Description
Les Bas du pensionnat is the French language edition of Fatty Legs: A True Story. Les Bas du pensionnat recounts the life of an eight-year-old Banks Island Inuvialuit girl who attended Residential School. Olemaun Pokiak, later called Margaret, tells her story in this memoir. In the introduction she explains the book's title, Les Bas du pensionnat or Fatty Legs, is the result of her destruction of the dreaded red-coloured stockings a nun forced her to wear at residential school. The picture book tells about her life before residential school, how she travelled five days to attend the school, and her life at the school. It turned out the school was much different from the place she imagined. Despite bullying from other girls attending the school and the racism of the school teachers, Margaret succeeds and learns to read. She enjoys reading and vows not to let the teachers and other classmates bully her. The book contains a map of Margaret's community; numerous photographs, and colour illustrations by Liz Amini-Holmes. The book contains an information section about residential schools and the healing process, and a scrapbook of images from Margaret's childhood. The book is the story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and is told with care by her daughter-in-law Christy Jordan-Fenton. Texte français d'Hélène Pilotto. Highly Recommended.